Naperville resident Laura Ellman is throwing her hat in the ring in the Illinois Senate 21st District, hoping for a chance to unseat incumbent Sen. Michael Connelly.
Ellman will run as a Democrat in the March 2018 primary. If she wins, she could face Connelly, R-Lisle, in the November 2018 election.
Ellman has been a resident of the 21st District for years, growing up in Hanover Park and Bartlett and graduating from Elgin High School. She also lived in West Chicago and has worked in Lisle, Warrenville, Wheaton and Naperville.
“What I hear in our community is that voters are fed up with the political rancor and theatrics that have replaced civil dialogue. People want to be represented by an independent voice committed to problem solving,” Ellman said in a news release. “I am fired up and ready to use my real world experience working in the private sector to help in any way I can.”
Ellman has more than 20 years of experience working in manufacturing, and earned a master’s degree in applied statistics.
Around the community, she’s been a member of the Naperville Housing Advisory Commission and Toastmasters and has worked as an English as a second language tutor and as a volunteer with Feed My Starving Children, Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic, the Naperville Big Band Jazz Fest and Habitat for Humanity.